America but no change in the number of cases in Bermuda, where latest figures show more than 400 residents have the killer disease or virus that causes it.

In January, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) broadened its definition of AIDS.

And for the first three months of 1993, the number of Americans diagnosed with AIDS tripled compared to the same period last year.

There were 11,770 new cases for the first quarter of 1992 and 35,779 for the first three months of 1993.

At least 60 percent of 1993's new cases were reported because of the changed definition, the CDC conceded.

But Bermuda, which goes by the CDC definition -- in part -- did not record any such dramatic increase.

In fact, eight new AIDS cases were recorded in the first three months of 1992 compared to seven for the same period this year, Health Department statistics showed.

There are now 221 residents suffering from AIDS, acquired immune deficiency syndrome and, as of December 31, 1992, 197 residents who have tested HIV-positive.

Since AIDS was discovered in 1981, it has claimed at least 177 lives locally.

The difficulty in defining AIDS comes from the fact many people infected with the virus that causes it can remain without symptoms or have only mild illness for several years.

The CDC now includes people with "seriously damaged immune systems'' in its count of so-called full-blown AIDS cases -- even if they do not have any of the diseases common to AIDS sufferers.

Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Cann explained Bermuda used the CDC definition in conjunction with the World Health Organisation's definition, which was not as strict.

As a result, Bermuda had always had a less rigid definition of AIDS than America so there was little change in numbers.

He added another reason was that the Island did not have a big enough pool of people to draw from.

The US in the past had used a "strict laboratory definition'' to count AIDS, while Bermuda used a much broader "clinical-case definition'', he said.